The typical grave, tomb, road-side memorial or other memorial presents a problem to well wishers of the deceased: the grave itself may last forever, but the items left as tokens of the esteem of visitors and well wishers probably will not.
Flowers left at a memorial or grave quickly fade and must eventually be removed by those in charge of the site. Artificial flowers last many times as long, but the fact that they are a copy of real flowers is often an embarrassment that makes them a less desirable token. Parents of deceased children sometimes bring toys, while photographs of the deceased tend to fade quickly.
There is an additional problem with such offerings: they tend to be visible in the day-light hours only. There are numerous reasons for this. The typical site such as a cemetery is large, out of doors, and landscaped: addition of outdoor lighting may be physically or financially impossible. Most well wishers visit during the daylight hours. Stringing electrical cables for long distances out of doors presents safety hazards and may obstruct the natural beauty of the location. It would be preferable to provide a device which provides a pleasing effect in daylight as well as night time.
Certain solar powered memorials are known which have various disadvantages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,816 issued Oct. 15, 1996 to Arcadia et al for ILLUMINATED MEMORIAL ASSEMBLY teaches a device intended for retrofit to a tombstone, and not having any separate support. It is further a metal device from which lights shines through an aperture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,893 issued Oct. 12, 1993 to Chacham et al for LIGHT FLASHER APPARATUS teaches a circuit to extend life of headstone memorial batteries by flashing the light rather than shining steadily.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,076 issued Dec. 8, 1981 to Splendora for MONUMENTS teaches an actual headstone comprising a substantially transparent member generally dissimilar to the present invention.
These systems use the headstone itself as a support for a light assembly. Under some circumstances this may be advantageous, but in general it is preferable to provide a method of lighting which may use the headstone but which does not require use of the headstone. Other systems require that the installation be pre-installed on the headstone or grave site, or else require a great deal of work on the headstone, or a special transparent headstone, but in general it is preferable to provide a method of lighting which might be quickly retrofitted to any grave site, by driving the staff into the ground.
Finally, while known systems use opaque or transparent devices which essentially allow viewers to see through the ornament, a pleasing effect may be achieved by the use of translucent materials which provide an even glow to the ornament.
Thus, for a number of reasons, items left at memorials tend to either disappear quickly and not be visible at night, or not offer a pleasing appearance in the day, or may be expensive or difficult to install and maintain. Some systems rely on the headstone as a component or support for the eternal memorial ornament.
The present invention solves these problems and others.